First Look: RockShox/Lapierre Show Electronic Shock at Morzine

Lapierre and RockShox, along with Lapierre's sister brands, Haibike and Ghost, have been secretly working on a computer-controlled shock which is named 'e.i' for Electronic Intelligence. The shock is driven by a system, patented by Lapierre and was built in conjunction with RockShox on the 2013 Monarch RT3 platform. A pod attached to the damper contains a servo motor which alters the shock damping from locked out to wide open in .01 seconds. Sensors on the crank, hidden in the BB shell determine if the rider is pedaling, while accelerometers located on the stem cap and the fork slider register the severity of each impact BEFORE the rear wheel hits the bump.

The 2013 RockShox Monarch RT3 Relay damper on a Lapierre Zesty of the same vintage. The aluminum servo head houses a small digital-proportional electric motor that operates the same three manual compression settings of the more-familiar blue lever. The internal cam that drives the low-speed compression needle is stainless steel and there are no detents. Rebound is still manual, via the red dial below the servo head.

The system is locked out when pedaling, open when coasting and has two modes for bumps - pedaling platform for small or medium hits and wide open for big hits. Riders have four options on a remote handlebar switch to toggle manually from automatic, medium, open or locked modes. Also, there are five sensitivity options that can be easily preset using the display to create an overall firm or smooth ride. A stem cap replacement houses the computer and one accelerometer, and also houses a display that shares speed and time functions with shock mode indicators. The e.i electronic system is said to add 350 grams to the bike. Prices are not yet set and there will be no aftermarket sales for the foreseeable future. The good news, we are told, is that e.i will be appearing on relatively affordable bikes. Lapierre will have 10 models at three different price points, Haibike will have five models and Ghost will offer seven.

(Clockwise) Lapierre's carbon fiber Zesty trailbike showing the size of the e.i battery pack mounted on the down tube. The handlebar remote control has a central nib to orient your thumb correctly. The opposite side of the Monarch RT3 Servo showing the rebound adjustment dial. The lower accelerometer and its speed sensor up close. The e.i display can be removed with a twist - and the system will run without it. The Monarch's compression adjustment can be operated manually with a 2.5mm Allen key - just in case.

How and Why e.i Suspension Was Developed

Before this all gets confusing, Lapierre and RockShox decided to break the news at Lapierre’s press camp in Morzine, France, along with two other brands, Ghost and Haibike (Hi’ Bike), that fall under the same ownership. All three brands have exclusive rights to the technology for a yet-to-be-disclosed time interval. Lapierre owns the patents (five of them) to the technology, while RockShox partnered to build the servo mechanism into its 2013 Monarch RT3 air-sprung damper. RockShox owns all the stuff from the damper to the end of the wire that plugs the shock into the system, so d.i shocks and servos will be serviced by RockShox. Lapierre is responsible for all the main electronic bits.

E.i’s electronics were developed by a firm called Trelock, and the engineering was assisted by the technical university students at Ecole Centrale Lyon. The development period was five years in the doing, with RockShox coming on board for the last two to bring the business end of the system into fruition. RockShox’s Jeremiah Boobar admitted that electronics were on the company’s list of must-dos, and that this was the first time that RockShox/SRAM had entered into a partnership to develop a core product. With RockShox’s blue white and black competitor’s announcement that it was going electronic earlier this year, the marriage could not have occurred at a better moment.

Both Jeremiah and Gilles Lapierre (Lapierre’s enthusiastic leader) stated that the first advantages of e.i suspension system will be to remove the need for a rider to fuss with tuning his or her shock for various situations, and then fiddle further with platform and lockout settings through the duration of each ride. The real take-away from e.i, however, will not be realized until the near future. If e.i’s accelerometer-controlled damping can separate pedaling platform from the suspension's action (and it seems to do a fine job), then bike designers will be freed to perfect the bump smoothing action of their suspensions instead of building in copious amounts of ride-tainting anti-squat into their systems.

Breaking Down the e.i Suspension System

E.i begins with a small computer processor mounted above the stem in place of the stem cap. The system is actually quite simple and understandable if you take it step by step. I’ll introduce you to the players as they come on line:

The pedaling sensor: The first job of the computer is to check to see if the rider is pedaling. An electric sensor in the internal sleeve that surrounds the bottom bracket axle picks up a signal from a small magnet on the BB axle to let the computer know if the cranks are spinning. If they are not turning, the computer opens the shock’s compression damping wide open and waits. If the cranks are turning, the computer orders the shock to switch to full lockout for maximum pedaling efficiency.

The accelerometer on the fork slider: When the bike rolls over a bump, an accelerometer on the slider measures the intensity that the wheel is being deflected upwards and warns the computer. If it’s a small, easy roller, the computer tells the shock to open up about half way, so it still can provide pedaling firmness while sucking up the tiny impact. If the bump really sends the accelerometer, the computer tells the shock to open fully. There are about 43 inches between the contact patches of the front and rear wheels and thus, it takes a bit of time for a bump to reach the back tire after it has upset the front one. At the upper end of the speed range, where a guy like Nicolas Vouilloz spends a lot of time, that interval is about a tenth of a second. E.i’s computer can make 1000 decisions in a second, so it has plenty of time to communicate between the fork sensors and the shock and get it right before the hammer hits the rear wheel.

The accelerometer on the stem: So, what if the rider’s crazy pedaling input is causing the fork to compress, like when sprinting out of a corner? Well, a second accelerometer on the stem-mounted computer senses when the fork is being pushed down from above and warns the computer that it should hold fast and remain locked out unless it receives further information from its partner on the slider below.

The speed sensor: OK, engineers and physicists learn in kindergarten that the energy of an impact increases with the square of its relative speed. What that means is that as speed increases slightly, hitting the same bump upsets the suspension to a much greater degree. To counter this, a spoke magnet trips a speed sensor built into the accelerometer on the fork slider and the computer does the math – just for fun – while the bump is streaking towards the rear wheel and then makes the correction to its shock order just in the nick of time. Wide open, Mister Monarch RT3, trouble’s a brewin.’

Take a look at the components: (clockwise) The business end of e.i is the RockShox Monarch RT3 Relay shock - wired up and ready to make history. E.i's processor is sealed into a molded plastic platform that replaces the stem-cap - the display twists and locks into it. The accelerometer and speed sensor are fixed with adhesive backing and a zip tie to the fork slider. A standard looking internal bottom bracket sleeve hosts the crank rotation sensor which picks up a signal from a small magnet fixed to the BB axle. The battery pack is good for 24 hours of riding - plus more than half of that in reserve if you need it.

The battery pack: Nobody told me what kind of battery actually powered the e.i shock, but it requires a rather large one (about the size of Shimano’s Di2 road shifting system). Lapierre officials said that the servo-motors required a little heft to operate the low-speed compression needle against the shock’s internal fluid pressure, and that took some juice. But the main reason was that the processor needed to be very fast and that speed required power. The real worry is how long will it last before it needs to be charged? And there are two answers: 24 hours at 250 suspension adjustments an hour is the number that both Lapierre and RockShox gave us. The second answer was that there is 80-percent reserve in that number, with an additional low-power survival mode built in. The system turns off when it is not making adjustments to save battery life. The recharge interval is three hours.

The bail-out: Thank RockShox for this one. There is a 2.5-millimeter Allen adjustment on the back side of the servo head that allows you to manually adjust the e.i damper to locked, platform, or open modes should you cut a wire or run the battery dead.

The display: The computer processor is in the housing below the display, so you can save your money by using it to program your processor and then tucking it away to avoid damaging it in a crash. The display has its own watch type battery and, beyond its function to show the rider if the shock is locked, or in platform or open modes, its most useful purpose is to switch the system between five sensitivity level options. ‘Sensitivity’ meaning level of apparent pedaling platform, with ‘five’ feeling like an XC hardtail under power and ‘one’ feeling like a short-travel XC bike with a good pedaling platform. You get a time and speed readout also, and you can toggle through the menu (with gloves, thank you) for average speed and top speed as well.

The Monarch RT3 Relay shock: RockShox didn’t throw a servo-motor on a Monarch and wave a flag at it. The fact that the shock is free to run wide open gave them tuning options that suspension guys dream about. Jeremiah Bishop explained that the compression damping could be much lighter and that the shock sag could be set at 30-percent (instead of 20 to 25-percent), which makes the suspension better able to keep the wheel on the ground. When the shock is running along in lockout mode, the bike’s tail end rides a bit higher too, so climbing geometry is improved. Bishop said that all three of the shock’s automatic settings can be tuned separately, which makes the e.i/Monarch RT3 a candidate for any theater of rear suspension from XC racing to all-mountain.

First Ride on the e.i Suspension System

I rode the e.i system on two carbon fiber Ghost models – first on a 140 millimeter AMR all-mountain bike in moderately rough and muddy conditions at Les Gets bike park, and then an XC loop on the 110-millimeter travel AMR 29er with some rain and roots thrown in for fun. Setup was easy, just get the sag at 30 percent, set the rebound to suit, pick a number from one to five on the display and punch the handlebar remote until ‘auto’ appears on the face. I tried the strongest and the softest pedaling platform settings and I actually found that the softest was the most effective, producing the best handling with an over-the-top pedaling platform, compared to the likes of the Brain-equipped Specialized Epic. The setup was said to be fork critical, meaning that the best fork setup would produce a better shock feel – and this made sense, as the fork provides the feedback that dictates the shock settings. I also found that the front wheel would push a little without a tiny bit of low-speed compression in the fork to hold it up.

The Ghost AMR carbon framed all-mountain bike was a good test platform for the e.i electronic suspension. Ghost designers, who were also involved with the project, say that the electronic components are water tight to one meter for one hour - and rainy weather in Les Gets put that claim to the test.

Most of the Euro downhills are minefields of braking bumps, so I had ample moments to check the sensitivity of the back end at various settings by scrolling through the four options at the handlebar remote lever. The result was about the same feel as a well-set-up bike with similar travel with the platform wide open – all the time – but I could pedal as hard as I wanted to and the bike would immediately respond. I searched for a lesser word, but the first and only that popped to mind was, ‘impressive.’ Where I did feel some additional harshness, was over small chatter bumps at medium-fast singletrack speeds, even in wide-open mode, but that may have been due to an unfamiliar suspension design and no fault of the e.i system. Tomorrow I ride Lapierres and that will give me an opportunity for a more familiar comparison.

The display is going to take some getting used to. Perhaps not if you ride all day with a camera popping out of your lid, but I like simplicity and a digital display on the stem of an all-mountain bike is a bit like driving a Prius on a DH course. Once I got over it, I actually did check the display, more often than I believed, for my shock modes, which thankfully are represented in an easy-to-read, dark bar graphic on the left of the face (its shaped like a shock). Also, although all three bike makers slated to use the e.i system will be routing the wires internally to clean up their bike’s looks, the wires streaming from the handlebar were a bit much. If I own an e,i bike (it may happen) I’ll probably pair the wires up with my hoses and housing and use heat-shrink tubing the mask them as they leave the handlebar area.

First Impressions:

Electronic suspension control has been great disappointment in the past, but much of that fail was due to an undefined suspension market and the inability of the maker to secure reliable electronics. Today, shocks like the RockShox Monarch are well understood, as is their target user. The simplicity of the e.i system – that it uses a computer to operate three time-tested low-speed compression modes – makes it a no brainer. That RockShox in is endeavor with both feet is an admonition to this fact. That said; a battery on a mountain bike is sure to draw ire from some, but most of that ‘some’ are probably parked on an iPhone at this very moment bleeding their life away on some useless battery powered app.

With e.i, I could ride everywhere on the mountain on an all-mountain bike without touching anything on my suspension. If a battery can make my suspension simpler and my bike go faster, then I can live with that – and Lapierre’s e.i suspension has the potential to do more, by helping to advance the handling aspect of suspension designs as well. I do think that an electric-powered 350 grams on a 100-millimeter XC bike to boost its pedaling platform is kind of like plucking feathers of a goose to make it lighter weight. For short-travel suspension, a mechanical lockout seems more than enough. Where e.i makes the most sense is on rear suspension in the mid-travel range, where chassis stability and pedaling efficiency are of paramount importance. - RC

It also looks alot more useful than the Specialized Brain, which is more of a marketing gimmick more than anything else.
But for all-mountain use, the Cannondale's pullshock system on the Jeckyl's and Claymore's are more impressive because it is much simpler, has two different travel settings, and when you go into the long travel mode the head angle is slacker for the downhill. I also like that it doesn't have a lock-out, which is only a band-aid for poor-pedaling suspension designs or for anal xc racers.

Scottrallye when coasting the system is open so unless you are pedaling and wheeling over a log u could get in trouble but with a bunnyhop u dont pedal so the system should be open.
to me the system sounds like driving a car with a automatic transmission.. I remember driving some shitty cars with auto gearboxes but then a audi A6 with 7speed gearbox is pretty sweet ... I could see the system being good sometimes but it also changes the way your bike feels all the time which I wouldn't directly see as a good thing.

It seems like this is a bit different. The iCD that Catherine and Geoff are using is a electronic replacement for a cable actuated remote lockout (albeit, it's consolidating both the front and rear into a single bar-mounted rotary switch).

This system looks to have an option to work automatically. Plus it's introducing a metric that the proposed iCD platform or any other "intelligent" automatic damping systems (Noleen SmartShock, Fox Terralogic, Specialized Brain, White Brothers Magic) have yet to include: information from the crankset.

@ ustemuf: Yeah, that would probably be the next step. I can't imagine that somebody, somewhere isn't working on that behind closed doors. It just makes too much sense, at least in a "closed course" racing application.

I got a chance to mess around with Cannondale's SIMON system in Vegas a few years ago, and that was one hell of a proof of concept. Was it necessary? Probably not, but it was an amazing little design study. It seems like adding GPS information to that would be the logical progression.

I think alot of you guys are missing the point. It's not like Noleen/Cannondale Simon or any other electronic system currently on the market.

The main part is the fact that the accellerometer on the fork tells the rear shock what's about to happen. AND it locks out automatically when you pedal. Although these features have been talked about for a while, I don't know of anyone (certainly anyone as big as Rockshox) that is doing this.

Regardless of whether we NEED it or not, it's a very innovative idea and could well be the future of suspension regarding damping thresholds/lockout etc.

I sense this will be alot like what high end cars use. Which leads me to believe it would make the bike very unpredictable.
I like knowing how my bike will react in certain situations, not huge on leaving it up to a computer to decide what it'll do.

Id like to know what happens if you're pedalling on something bumpy. Obviously, you pedal over bumps all the time if you go hard, or race competitively, so if you're pedaling, does the shock lock out, and then you a bump, and your suspension does nothing? Or does the fork sense the bump, and then unlock, or do you have to manually set it to open? I like the idea, but there are too many problems with the engineering. As mentioned above, I could see problems with manualling. But the real question is, who does rockshox think will buy this? The regular weekend warrior either probably wouldn't care, or coulnt afford it, and only a few non sponsored racers could probably afford it. What's wrong with a little pedal bob anyway? If rockshox needs to work on something, its getting their rear shocks to hold air, not lockout themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm in love with RS, I like it better than fox, but is this really justafiable?

Read the article. Dampening is open when not pedaling therefore no issues with manualling. Half open when pedaling over bumps much like a full time pro-pedal setup we're used to. System will be on cheaper models as well as expensive models. It's not just Pros who have nice bikes

If you miss a bump with the front wheel (manualling) the damping will not change accordingly. This whole setup screams a inconsistent ride depending on feedback. Great Idea, but not for a all-mountain or downhill bike.

@willsoffeI think you are missing the point a little. This NEW system is doing exactly what the OLD system was doing (with the exception of lockout) just using more/better sensors and newer tech. It is not just relying on the shock position and speed but is using the fork accelerometer to let the computer know whats coming and make adjustments accordingly(proactive vs. reactive).

Also if you know what the wheelbase is and how fast the bike is traveling you could also make adjustments in real time for successive bumps of different sizes (i.e. small.. large..large..small..etc) and with load cells and accelerometers you could program the computer to know when you are compressing off the face a a jump and/or landing to adjust the high/low speed compression so the you could get optimal small bump sensitivity/compliance without sacrificing bottoming resistance and blowing through all your travel to the bump stops while still having enough low speed to hold the bike up in G outs and entering corners. If you miss a bump with the front wheel you can have a default setting so if you are at speed and there is little or no change in the fork but the computer see's load/speed change at the shock it can ramp up the dampening(reactive vs proactive)

The lockout feature should be great on longer travel all mountain/enduro bikes that still need to do a fare bit of climbing. This technology has been around for sometime its just whether or not you and I see its value and are willing to pay for it! Only time will tell whether this rehashing of an old idea will catch on or not? After all this is not Formula 1 racing..... its just mountain bikes.

You missed the point that if you arent pedalling (which you arent when manualling) the system is fully open just like if you had lockout/propedal off. This idea isnt aimed at DH bikes anyway, it's aimed more at the 6" trail bike category.

I only want I was not talking about the pedal sensor but the fork bump sensor that changes some of the compression settings.
Basically I qm just giving an extreme example where the system will be tricked into being open when it should have a bit of compression. This is suitable for a XC not a bike going down a hill.

It may only be when pedaling, so I should have said wheeling. The point still stands: " The accelerometer on the fork slider: When the bike rolls over a bump, an accelerometer on the slider measures the intensity that the wheel is being deflected upwards and warns the computer. If it’s a small, easy roller, the computer tells the shock to open up about half way, so it still can provide pedaling firmness while sucking up the tiny impact. If the bump really sends the accelerometer, the computer tells the shock to open fully."

I am just saying that this is not the best idea for a aggressive all mountain bike. You aren't going to want it on the downhill, so it is a expensive uphill accessory. I would love to try one on a four inch to see what it feels like.

@Protour, I fail to see how the Spec brain is a marketing gimmick, have you ever ridden a bike with a brain on it? More than just a test ride around the block? I own a SJ FSR 29er with a brain and it works exactly how it's supposed to. Like any susp system it does need to be tuned properly to the rider and riders preferences. How is it that the first fully to win the WC in XC was a Spec epic equipped with the brain, if it's a marketing gimmick?

This systems only advantage is that it can be equipped on any bike you want. I don't think a company like Rockshox, or Spec for that matter, would waist their time developing something that doesn't actually work. However, like any new piece of tech it will likely take a few years to work out all the kinks, case in point the Reverb. To anyone interested in this product a bit of advise, I'd wait until gen 3 maybe 4 before buying into this, by then they should have it dialed and the cost may be cheaper. If it survives at all.

and this is where i draw the line for bikes. a bike is mechanical, gears, cogs, and cables...if i wanted electricity to do it all for me whats the fun in that. ok it makes you faster...but you dont get the same feel. its like a charcoal or propane grill. a steak will always taste better on charcoal but its slower and propane is easier to use.good idea but a little far i think .

bikes are actually simple but complex already, without adding more electronic gizmos

I have been trained on servicing Shimano Di2 Ultegra and Dura Ace for road bikes and can definitely see the potential, but personally prefer human powered shifting on MTB's and conventional suspension dampers where the environment is much more harsh

the fun in riding for me is using your own brain and body language, good suspension takes away very little, ..... i would have zero interest in a setup that was reacting to the trail instead of me, black box tech could be useful gathering data for setup and tweaking.

This attitude is like the Amish. Technology can go so far but no further. This is a new innovation, just like front suspension, rear suspension, multiple gears, adjustable seat posts, aluminium bikes, carbon bikes, pneumatic tyres etc. All these things were claimed as pointless additions of technology to cycling when they were first released. If you want pure you need to build yourself a wooden bike with steel bands for tyres and no pedals, boneshaker style, otherwise you need to allow the development of new technology without bitching. If you think it isn't necessary for you then don't buy it, simple as that.

Nice concept, but I don't know if I would want to run it on a bike with a dropper post and a front derailleur, things might get a little crowded and confusing on the bars. What if you went off a jump into a rock garden and accidentally locked out your suspension and fully raised your seat while in the air?

This idea might actually have more potential for DH racing, if you could easily lock it out in the pedal sections you could definitely save some time, but again, 4 settings might be a bit complicated for that.

HAHAHAHAHA I can kinda picture that...It kinda sounds like jumping a mountain bike in the 80's (no suspension and road-bike like geo/seat heights). And I totally agree about the DH racing concept. A single lock-out (or platform really with some small bump compliance) would be KILLER for those pedally courses and would give a good/fit rider a huge advantage in overall time.

i think it's a great idea for pros who race every weekend, but i really don't want anything electric on my bike it just seems like to much for a mountain bike.. i ride my bike to get away from technology and to be 'free'. Also i don't want any more wires and devices cluttering up my cockpit. So basically i think it's a great idea which actually works compared to other electronic suspension set ups ive seen but i think it's something for a very specific market..

I'm game for making bikes better but when you involve batteries and you move away from the man powered stuff, that's when I start to get skeptical. I don't ever want to have to change the batteries on ANYTHING on my bike with the exception of lights.
So in other words...
F U C K N O.

I dont see it as useful, the point made about never having to change your suspension settings doesnt make sense to me. I ride AM on a SC Heckler, and I never change my settings while riding. i dont see why you should really need to?

overheard at the trail head .... "so what OS/CPU you running for this trail?" "i downloaded a hack that ....." " yeah open source is the future of damping..." "i got a liquid cooling mod that stops the CPU overheating on long decents"

Like I said I think it's a nice concept, especially for xc racers or people who are who want alot of options and don't mind complexity on their bike. But the goal for trail bikes should be to create a reliable mountain bike that is both efficient and adaptive, while being as simple as possible. The Cannondale system is both more adaptive (changes angles & travel) and simpler than this system, and more reliable because it is only has a two stage lever that runs on a cable. And like I said, lockouts are only band-aids for poor suspension designs, thus they are an inhibitor of progress.

Like many other gadgetry. It may not be for everyone. But this might make a world of difference for some.
Next you'll be hearing in race comentary of how their battery died or a computer malfuction and the rear is locked out. Gwin lost due to a bad sensor. Ha!

Saying that, in line with your original point, what happens if your intention is to manual a trail feature to stop the front wheel getting bogged down? Also if railing a berm full of brake bumps, the system better be able to perform well in 3 dimensions! Would love to give it a test ride!

and what if you start pedalling just before you land a big jump? locking up the suspension just before you hit the ground just wondering as I saw some racers in mont saint anne doing this on the jumps at the bottom

It would be quite easy to detect that you are in free fall, or doing a manual - then pedal or no, the input from pedals will be ignored and suspension will be tuned accordingly. And besides, a "when in doubt, don't lock the suspension" rule should work allright.

I don't want it and there is a very simple reason why. Let me explain it like this:Driving a modern car with a pile of electronics to do all the driving for you is quite boring. Driving an old and simple car with a similar engine is quite exciting because it requires YOU to do the driving.

Now what do you think will happen when this is applied to mountain biking?..

29'ers last year, electronic shocks this year.. power steering, anti lock brakes, anti spin and ESC next year? How about some airbags? Maybe a nice and comfy seat so it doesn't actually feels like leaving the couch?

Yes during the competitions i think this will take the skill away from the riders unquestionably, But lets look at it from the point of a average joe who does no competitions at all and just goes out and shreds.

This would allow people to own a 200mm downhill bike which still rides like a XC bike due to the lock out. So this would just let more people do more what ever they feel like it in the morning. I see this as creating more versatile do it all bikes that really took off lately. But as you rightly said so, it takes some of the fun away, but for that they added the disable button which brings it back to what it was. Think of it as you can pedal you DH bike to your course, disable it and shred it down then enable it again to ride back home.

Like you mentioned about the $$$, but if you think about it and it properly works you can use a single bike to replace number of bikes as they will essentially be capable of doing everything, this would save running costs and save money in the long run.

Well gee thanks for the negative props people. I'm going to go ahead and doubt that most of you have never even ridden 650b. I tell you, I was skeptical, but 27.5 is actually a great comprimise between the two conventional sizes. Great rollover, handling, and the weight isn't too far off from 26er. Every bike should have come down the 650b path, dh included. If you're interested, intense, and norco have been working on a 650b bike, and jamis makes them. I have a 2010 jamis 650b2, and I love it. They come generously speced, and they are a dream, at a price not too bad, I think it was like $4575 for mine with full sram xo, truvativ noir cranks, super slick white brothers fork, and. And a joplin remote stock. Great do it all-er.

@georgy291 you could not use one bike to replace an xc bike and a full on DH bike. Yes, there could be a conpromise, middle ground bike (like the AM bikes that already exist), but the 'average joe' cant afford a bike light enough for xc, strong enough for DH and also with electronic suspension etc.

Not to mention geometry.
XC and DH bikes requires VERY different approaches to frame design. There is just no way, regardless of materials used and how many computers you pile on it, that will make a 200mm. DH rig ride even remotely XC-ish.

Yes, I totally forgot geometry. I was thinking about geometry when I started typing the comment and then forget (why i put "etc" lol). You are totally right tho. Next there going to have a computer that slackens/steepens head angle and seat angle for every bump, from 63.5 HA 13"BB to 71 HA w/ a high BB. no thanks

The assumption here is that you would be riding the same tracks! Bear in mind that before suspension a lot of downhill was aero tucking down fire roads! As the bikes got better, more terrain became rideable and the tracks followed the bikes! As the tracks get more technical the industry pushes for bikes to make it easier!

If this works as well as they say it will - go ride down something you shouldn't

Nyygard... you're comparing two very different things. Comparing a bare bones bike to a computer equipped one is not that big of a deal. You ride them exactly the same. You don't have to change your riding style at all. The car comparison doesnt make sense because our bikes don't have automatic drivetrains. If anything you are comparing a manual car from old days with a manual car from todays standards, and cars of today are better designed in every way.

More Cables than the golden gate bridge! Why does it fell like mountain bikes have reached a Plato in terms of design and now the big boys are just fiddling with things that already work perfectly in order to keep prices high?

and why not to put sensors in forks and let them auto ajust depending on speed and terrain. DH riders could run high speed straight with one setting and go for a steep rocky section with another. And don't forget to put automatic gearbox... Great engineering - bad idea. Takes natural risk, challenge, gamble away from the sport. As an example, now xc riders can choose full sus or hardtail bike.

Cannondale did this years ago on their DH bikes. They would have the riders ride the course, have the course mapped by on-board accelerometers then program the suspension in relation to distance traveled. This way the suspension would be firm on the pedally sections and plush through the rock gardens. It wasn't a reactive system like RS is working on but it would still work very nicely for a given course.

Really?Are you sure you want this?Do you really need your suspension to be perfectly comfortable for you at every second of your ride?I for one don't want my MTB's to ride as smooth as a car or feel like I'm sitting on the sofa.What's next?All trails will have to have perfectly manicured corners and pillows along side just in case you go down?

I won't be satisfied until my MTB, my computer, my cell phone and I are integrated into one single unit. I welcome the day my legs are replaced with cybernetic bicycle wheel prosthetics and the wheels turn just because I think. I can do real-time Strava posts and update facebook without ever interrupting my ride. What will I use for a mechanic? A surgeon? A neurologist? A computer repairman? The guy at the Verizon store?

Life is far too boring when I have to pedal my own bike. Science fiction needs to become reality!

Another step to planned obsolescence and adding complexity to a flawed design like an airshock is not going to make it any better. Markeneering and vendorlock-in are short term instruments. Sound engineering is a strategic asset and can keep you in business indefinitely. Boxxer, Domain, Kage are right on track, airshocks and electronic control are not.

Issues: Vendor look-in.No swap of good/better shock to new bike because triggerpoints are hardwired. Shimming/Boring not an option.Your fork goes - rebuy same thing - if you can - after six months. Because of variance - it will never work again as before. Most likely get worse.Added weight.Mess on handlebar.Decrease of durability - more parts automatically mean more breakage.Most likely strange riding behavior and weird behavior if you exceed the parametrisation - still inches of travel missing...Airshock will never, never be as good as oil/spring shock. Period.

Solution:Add conventional inches travel to back and rear and you have suspension that outperformes e-control by far...

This is pretty cool. Can't imagine using it though. As if my hands didn't have enough controls to worry about. With all these controls being added to the bar I can see why people return to rigid singlespeed hardtails for some simplicity of experience.

Less is more!, cables weigh less than batteries (and the small leaver is even lighter) and if they will use LIPO's then get ready for a smoke show when somebody crashes or better still, imagine the battery going flat when the shock is locked!, but on the bright side I'm an electronics practical engineer, maybe one day i will start repairing shocks! +1 for that.

Two points: 1. This is an option, non e:i versions of all these models will be available for folks who want them. 2. After 2 years in R&D testing with Rockshox and Lapierre's engineers, Nico Vouilloz did the final development testing and setup on this system and he loves how it rides, so this isn't some half baked afterthought, it works.

What if all the new carbon frames just came with micro USB ports at head tube, shock location, and derailer location. All internally routed. Then just olug one computer in that runs your shock, shifting, and any other elecrtonic devices they come up with.

A switch to change the compression dampning. Using accelerometers to determine when to increase or decrease dampnig based on feedback from accelerometer. This is simmilar but not related to a Lotus active suspention. This devise can measure an impact before it happens? If the accelerometers are in the hubs it might work. How about strain gauges on the stays and head tube?

Next thing you know we'll have a bluetooth dummy with a go pro mounted on it, so you can see the bike ride by itself...
This is just another gizmo... In 5 years we will be on a constant stopie on our bike from all the gadgets that hooks up to the handlebar...

I've got to wonder what a harcore BMX'r would make of this. What about the electro-magnetic, iron-rod damping of the automotive world - that would be the exact opposite of what you want, but hey lets do it and sell it to tech junkies.

very sick idea but I;m curious to know how odd it must feel to ride a bike now that it has become a little more unpredictable? you know like a computer can only sense so much. especially if its only relying on the motions playing within the front fork. we need scanners to scan the trail 100 of feet ahead of us!

Once again I am astounded at the psychic powers of the pinkbike community. We are able to know with absolute certainty that this device will mean the end of mountain biking as we know it despite nobody having ridden it or indeed heard of it outside of this article.

Innovation is good, but not at the expense of the sport. For me, a bicycle is mechanical. You pedal to make it move, push on the shifters to change gears, etc. All this ''electricity craze'' takes away the very essence of the sport in my opinion. In this particular case, if you, as a rider, want the best performance out of your fork/shock - or any component for that matter - then learn how it works, develop your riding style, figure out what/where you'll be riding today and tune your bike accordingly. Its most of the fun really. Same goes for gearboxes. What's next, abs brakes?! Seems we'll soon be taking our bikes to Mr. Lube or Canadian Tire for a tuneup. C'mon folks, this is MTB, not Moto GP or MX!

Take F1 for example. Those things are without a doubt one of the most technologically advanced things on four wheels, yet they don't use traction control and ABS anymore... because it takes away from the very essence of driving the car and makes better, more entertaining competition (i.e. for us mere mortals, playing the latest Forza or F1 racing game with and without driving aids is worlds apart!). There are even city cars that parallel park themselves. Really?! I'll park my car myself thank you very much! Same goes for my bikes: I'm the one who wants to do the riding, not a bazillion electronic motors, sensors, processors and algorithms doing it for me.

Some will call me a purist, and they'd be right. Conservative? Heck no! Like I said, innovation is great, as long as its moving in the right direction. And right now, I think some guys and gals are straying from what the sport really is all about. Stop making everything around me look like a sci-fi movie and go cure cancer and fix the economy or something...

the only thing i can see going worng with this is that if you were to wheelie or manual over somthing it would get all confused and stay locked up while you fly over your bars because it didnt move. other than that, sounds much better than having to reach down to turn on or off pro-pedal or whatever

You can't deny the innovation, you need it in any sport. But we're gonna start needing official mtb licenses at this rate! It's gonna get to the point where you whip the front brake off in order to squeeze on an iphone dock so you can text on your way down ft. bill. Then of course you'd get a fine for that... I'm in favour of progress, we need to give things a shot once, but keep the riding down to the skill of the rider, not "bikenet"

will the effieciency gains be worth the extra wedge and weight..... if so it could be a nice idea but my guess is that we'd probably just be better off keeping the bike lighter......
and what is with all this electic bikes atm ..... i cant be bothered putting my bike on charge!!!!

Headline: Unknown F1 car meets mountain bike in Manaco, has love child. Bernie's mad... Though I'm for change, almost (almost!) every new part I've used over the years is better than the year before, this looks like it would be pricier then it's benefits. I guess it would be like "idiot proofing" the lockouts. And would probably work fine on basic XC courses, but once it gets fast and technical, it might get lost. In a rocky "roller" section sounds like the rider would have to tell it not to lock out anyway. We have some trails like that around here. Wonder if it would understand that. It's cool, but so are carbon bikes. So until I have a ton of money, I guess I'm stuck on my chromoly hardtail and my non-remote lockout, rebound only fork. That's not a bad thing...

cool invention but im sure nearly everyone one of us has had computer problems (anything electronic to be fair) one day electronic shocks will be like comparing broadband speeds, i personaly think there is a limit to how much a bike can be improved at the moment. internal computers and wiring would be shit as what happens when the computer DOES brake looks like you will be taking yourbike down to the local saw mill so you can get it cut up to get the computer out of your bike which would probably cost more than the bike.

nice idea but untill we have other problems sorted out, i dont think this is needed for dh/ dh racing just yet

Gizmos like this and the Brain are cool, but all they do is mask inefficient suspension designs. I also wonder if these devices would recognize subtle wheel catching bumps on trails that kill momentum on climbs and flats. I've got a 6" Marin Quad Link bike and the gate on the Rock Shox rear shock has never worked but I've never needed it. The rear end is stiff and the suspension doesn't bob when you put the power down. Only downside is some pedal feedback in the little ring. I've done a short elite XC race on this 30lb bike on a rougher course and actually finished about the same as where I would have on my sub 25lb 4" bike.

Makes sense though as an electronic analogue of the inertia (inertia = mass = weight) based Brain, but the mechanical engineers should be optimizing the linkage...

Maybe they can incorporate a Gps with it and you can have preprogammed coordinates and tracks and the dampening will change for you automatically as you approach certain sections/areas. Haha! Techy people will love this stuff!!

Everyone has been wanting something innovative, new and exciting and although I know it's been sorta done before this is still innovative, exciting and new. Everyone should just be happy that things like this are being tried and although it might not be great (most things aren't amazing the first time round) its has the potential to be very good.However at this current time, I would rather pay $500 or whatever to have someone professionally set up my suspension and stuff and still have plenty of change left over..

"...bike designers will be freed to perfect the bump smoothing action of their suspensions instead of building in copious amounts of ride-tainting anti-squat into their systems"

As you know RC, there are more reasons for anti-squat than beating pedal bob. You can fine tune a ride with damping, but to me making a bike that relies on this technology goes against the efficiency that engineers have worked hard to get into modern bikes.

Ok i think this shock is a great idear but will need to be tested and tested . I think it would be better working on at sprit level kind of thing not your peddleing . If it used a spirit level the shock would know to lock out when going up really steep climes and change to middle propedle on coasting rides and full open on the downs i think this is a more simple idear

You know what after reading most of these comments and comments on other articles I've come to the conclusion that only people that like to bitch a lot post comments, for the most part. So I think I'll refrain from commenting from now on.
No offence everyone.
Bye!

I can see the future and it's looking tecnical as hell! I'd love to give this a go just because it's such an interesting and innovative idea. I don't agree with it personally and believe that simplicity is the key to greatness, but that's just me.
I would rather see mechanical solutions instead of electronic but, hey, this is the age we live in.

To me they've gone about it slightly the wrong way. It'd be better to detect the speed and position of the forks and shock and adjust the compression damping to suit (in fact probably easier to do electronically than with shims). If your accelerometers are coming into play then you forks already haven't done a very good job...

On, Off, and "On a bit" isn't very sophisticated use of damping. Using a crank sensor rather than looking for pedalling frequencies at the shock is a bit of a cop out too.

The potential to be able to remap for forks and shock instead of having a fresh tune is compelling. I'm sure you could make the map adjustable on the fly too. If they use GPS speed or positions to switch the maps though - that's a bit of a cheat...

Remember the Millyard bike that the reviewers raved about, but always felt like the shocks were blown in the carpark - I think that will be a common characteristic.

I dont know why but the concept of batteries and electric cables on my mtb doesn´t turn me on!For me mtb should be pure mechanical stuff like circles turning circles (taken from life cycles).Dont get me wrong this shit might actually work but...

This looks like a pretty sweet idea and glad that companies are trying to push things forward. The problems that i can see with this though are reliability and cost. The controller box has added extra wires to the bike which can cause problems. The sensor in the bb makes me dubious. If you ride enough you know how long s bb lasts. So does this mean when replace it do you need to buy a specific one??? And with this sensor does this mean you have to go back to the dealer as you can't do it yourself??? Then there is the shock itself, when it comes time to have it serviced will this be more of a cost than say a normal service as it has more parts now. I have more board of actually talking about this like the idea just sceptical about even more cost to my bike and up keep just saying!!

All these gizmo's and upgrades to suspension, how about a self inflating suspension so I can leave my pump at home...if you want a harder rear suspension...dial up the pressure...
...self inflating suspension with autosag...perfection.

What happened to just 'learning' how to set your suspension up go ride and have fun. Guess people are getting to lazy and want their I-Phone app to do everything for them. Fox and Shimano are working on an electronic system based on the Di2. Electronic controlled everything bikes what can be tuned and setup with an I-Phone app. Putting batteries/sensors/wires all over your bike.. For what? More stuff to go wrong, costs lots of money, and in then end, you still didn't learn how to tune your suspension.

This might be cool for xc, but all mountain and DH I don't see the point, I want to have suspension when I pedal, you actually get better traction when your suspension is active, lockouts are overrated. This would suck trying to pedal out a rough dh section or in Am aplications when climbing something rough. you want your wheel to follow the ground not bounce off of it. I would never trust the reliability of this system and being made by rockshox I would trust it even less. You know what's really cool about my bike is that it doesn't need batteries!

I dont understand why companies are pushing to market technologies like this one, isint the point of mountain biking to be a challenge? Your bike shouldent have to be a super computer with wheels to have fun

Oooh no...electronic shock...that didn´t worked inthe 90th(girvin , fox) and certainly will not be an "advance" for mountainbikes !! So, all you "techgeeks" get a grip and lets focus on something usefull!

Too bad...our hobby of bicycle is getting less and less 'green' every time new tech stuff introduced...
Besides making the bike it self and other consumables, now we add a battery to it...another carbon footprint added...

Looks like a cool and interesting idea, This may still be a prototype so dont neg vote me right away, But if your adjusting the damping electronically, couldnt you also adjust the air pressure electronically in the shock to?

I know this is totally off subject but when is someone going to develop a system that changes gear automatically in accordance with how fast you are going/pedalling would be good for most types of racing if it could be done

That's nowhere near as advanced or innovative as having the bike just win a race for you, no matter what your fitness or mood that day. I won't stop trying to "grow the sport" or "progress" things until I have that bike.

The problem with an autobox on an MTB is that you often need to change gear based on the terrain you're approaching, rather than the speed/cadence at any given moment. An autobox will never be able to anticipate a muddy patch on the exit of a corner than needs a downshift whilst braking before the corner, for example.

Good idea , but it would probably cost a fortune and be your average mechanics nightmare.
Really like the idea though and the way they have kept everything clean and tidy , there's nt a billion wires everywhere.

This gets plain stupid. I mean really: course builders try to make it more challenging like Petermaritzburg XC course, and bike engineers try to make it easier to ride those - How geeky you have to be to loose a grip on reality and see it as a good thing?! Stop spending thousands on such complicated stuff: I give you the solution to the problem: get a couple of guys tomorrow and pick all the stones from your local track, cut out all the roots. Write to UCI to pave Fort William track, get a fkn bunch of cones put them on fireroad and tell Aaron Gwin and Greg Minnaar to ride it - problem solved! No electronics involved!

Maybe for racers, where a mechanic is at hand at every run does this makes sense.. go on an epic ride for a few days, or weeks where branches, rocks, rain, wipe-outs are part of the game, and those nice and pretty little electric wires will see their life span decreased quite dramatically.. no question about that. We all deal already with mechanical maintenance issues on bikes, which make us favors the easier set-ups. Not sure that would ease the headaches..Question : if you start pedaling during a jump (always see that during DH race runs finish or in 4X), then the suspension is going to lock, right ? landing should be fun :-)More injuries in race runs aren't needed I believe, specially due to that kind of gizmo mishap..

I think the weight shaving is over, they might have reached the bottom that current technology can take them to (like 20lbs full suspension XC bike, or 25lbs for AM and 32lbs for DH, below which it gets plain stupid) Still it was a very frustrating journey, watching companies doing all tons of stupid crap just to get the weight down (XX grouppo GTFO) or first aluminium Trek Session 8.8 with tubing thickness from XC bike from early 2k. The first sign of stop in progression by materials and in suspension systems was the rush of 29ers, now it will be cables and electronics. ABS is already on motorcycles (incl.Enduro ones), anyone tired of wheels sliding while braking on wet roots? El-propelled bikes are also developing, the road ones take some serious form.

What I would like is a handlebar-steered hydraulic lockout for longer shocks to get more out of sprints on my AM bike. One working in a way that it locks it out at around SAG point only when the button is pressed in. A button with very little travel so it does not compromise my grip on the handlebar - That would win my money!

I still want that anal sphincter activated Dropper post. Women can use that as well but also take additional advantage by using kegels to lock the shock.

So... when are we paving Fort William or Mt St Anne track to make it easier, so that people can have more fun on bikes? Now that I think about it, that logic seems very attractive: I always wanted to climb Matterhorn - I'll take a helicopter instead! Life's easy!

All that work required to get up the mountain the way those phony mountaineers do it... they're just seeking fame and glory and don't understand the true value of absolute laziness. When I'm philosopher king, everyone will own a Segway.

too much engineering and innovation for me. it's just a bike. may as well just take the rider out of the equation entirely. bring your bike to the trail and let it ride while you sit in the car and watch it from a monitor.

i dont get why you wouldnt want this to work....no one has made you buy it hell you dont even know if this will go into production so why not enjoy innovation and the sport moving forward.....and judging by you feeling the need to post your winning achievements on your pinkbike profile im guessing your just insecure and scared of change......hate to be the bringer of truth

Why not? Surfing in the uk makes you more of a man. It's bloody freezing in the water here. But damn we have some good waves up north.

As for the system, I feel that everyone is jumping to conclusions, only one guy commenting here has actually ridden the bike. So most of the psychic pinkbikers comments are irrelevant. In any case I cannot pass judgement on the system but hell we can never have enough new designs. It's called progress. Good on these guys for taking an idea and putting it into practice. It may not be your cuppa tea but it may be someone else's.

And GT's I-drive, you are joking right? Nothing, I repeat, nothing like it.

We just broke the world record on the biggest waves here in san Diego.Just hate to be the bringer of the truth.But maybe you can really bring some game on that kona stinky .Wait , kona stinky?Oh, I pitty the fool !

oh im sorry that im not a 46 year old with money coming out of my ass and unlike you i dont spend money on parts that my riding cannot justify and please im 16 what the f*ck do you expect me to be riding?? unlike you mummy and daddy didnt buy me everything you stupid worthless twat!! you really think that arguing with a 16 year old makes you more of a man.....and well san diego may have just broke the record for big surf but im pretty sure you werent out there?? and before you make another pretentious comment bare in mind that maybe mountain biking isnt my primary interest.....your probably just another divorced middle aged man who feels the world owes him something because he never did anything with your pitiful existence but i feel this has gone so far off topic and that the pinkbike community probably dont want to read this anymore so please if you have any words that seem to trickle from your brain and through your shriveled liver spotted fingers and onto the internet please send them as pm.....and im surprised you made it to 46 being that retarded.

Read back Your comments , you started this!.You brought this argument my man,not me.As for insults go? , don't do it,you will get ban from this forum.As for your age goes?If you want to be running with the pack ,be careful not to pull the age card when something goes wrong.

If you don't like better suspension, just go back to your hardtails. People said suspension took the fun out of riding and reduced skill. Most of us won't give up the comfort and control we get from modern suspension and brakes.
Unless you are on a steel single speed full rigid bike, STOP BITCHING!!!!!!